Day 13: My Happy Place

Loial by Seamas Gallagher

All growing up my mother encouraged me to read. Sometimes it was by threatening to take away my game systems if I didn't read and others it was simply buying me a new book I had to have. My father and my older siblings were also voracious readers and I often found myself enthralled as they discussed stories that they had been reading. Don't get me wrong I love my video games and they have had their own part in the growth of my imagination, but the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert Jordan cultivated the fields and planted the first seeds of my imagination.



I'm thankful for that imagination. I consider myself fortunate to envision the worlds that books portray and to be able to create my own tales and characters. I'm able to create whole worlds down to tiny details and it has served me well. Whenever I find myself in a quiet moment or when I start to get bored I get to step away and create something new. I found that it helped me connect with two of my roommates who were creative geniuses because we were able to create together, and boy were some of our worlds cool. Hopefully you'll get a little taste of this, as I've decided for January I'll steal yet another November tradition and try to write a novel in one month.

It makes me sad to see kids who don't have that. They plug in and lose that opportunity to exercise their mind (mind exercise is probably the only kind I get) and as a result I think the worlds a little less for it. Encourage the young in your lives to read and play make believe, they'll be thankful for it later.